


Brief Comfort

by Rythen



Category: RWBY
Genre: Emerald and Mercury are mentioned but don't appear, F/M, Fluff, pumpkin spice ice cream
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-03-30
Updated: 2016-04-07
Packaged: 2018-05-30 05:23:02
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,563
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6410533
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Rythen/pseuds/Rythen
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Just a short two-shot about Roman and Neo meeting again before the Vytal Festival tournament.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Originally posted to Tumblr.

She hated this outfit. Black had never been her color - she much preferred the pinks and whites she normally wore - but she had to remain conspicuous; her notoriety in Vale made it far too dangerous for her to wander about out of disguise, despite how suspicious they looked to begin with by wandering into a mostly abandoned area surrounded with warehouses. The group of them - four in total, had a specific destination here. They looked, for the most part, like a group of exchange students wandering the streets of Vale, when in reality each one was a criminal in some way or another.

Cinder led the group as they walked into one of the warehouses, with her closest peons following a few paces behind, and Neo bringing up the rear. Inside at least two dozen members of the White Fang worked, moving around crates and boxes, likely filled with dust. Near the middle of the building, a man in a white coat and a bowler hat waited for them, checking over a map laid out on a table, glancing up with a less-than-pleased look as they walked close, obviously displeased with his newest company. As the woman in the lead got close, he stood upright, feigning a pleasant smile.

“Good work, Roman, I will take over from here. You have a meeting with the White Fang tomorrow evening, don’t you?”

He let out a displeased sound at the reminder, rolling his eyes before responding.

“Yeah, yeah, keep the…” his eyes glanced over to the members working around him. “Keep the employees happy.”

His tone was sarcastic, obviously aggravated with his forced alliance with the radical Faunus group. The smile that Neo normally wore grew a bit, resisting a laugh as Roman looked over to make eye contact. His eyebrows raised as he noted the outfit she was wearing - her short skirt, exposed midriff, and pigtails made her look like a goth teenager. She winked at him as she allowed the disguise to drop, glad to be back in her normal clothing.

Roman replied with a shit-eating grin before Cinder pulled his attention away, the two of them discussing the events that would be unfolding within the next few days. It was more of a brief recap more than anything, she gave only the bare minimum, and Neo quickly lost interest in the discussion, deciding to take a quick look around at the crates and boxes that lined the warehouse. The faunus gave her a wide berth as they continued their work, put on edge by the small criminal roaming around.

“Neo.”

She turned promptly on her heels upon hearing the Cinder’s voice, still smiling as she walked again towards the group.

“You will need to accompany Roman to the meeting, keep up appearances and help silence any problems that may arise, and you will be helping him with phase two as well. I will message you if I need you again before the Vytal Festival. Other than that, enjoy your time back in Vale.”

A single nod was given in response, Neo walking to stand near Roman as Cinder turned away from the pair.

“Do not screw this up.”

Emerald and Mercury followed the woman out of the warehouse, the White Fang members relaxing slightly, but still wary of the pair that remained. In childish fashion, Neo stuck her tongue out once the trio was out of sight, turning to look up towards the partner she hadn’t seen in months. Her smile didn’t change, but it was now more genuine, tilting her head sideways once they had made eye contact once again.

“Stealing dust. Most of these crates are packed with dust, and a few have explosives as well. Pieces of Atlesean technology stolen as well. I’ve been a busy man here, and you have been…” He couldn’t help but grin at the memory of her school attire, “pretending to be an innocent little school girl. You know, you should wear that more oft–oof.”

He was interrupted by an elbow to his gut and looked down to see his companion holding an annoyed expression, obviously not impressed by his implication.

“What? It looks good on you.”

Rolling her eyes, Neo began to walk towards the warehouse’s exit, hinting that not only was she not impressed, but she was also ready to leave the building. Roman caught up quickly, his walking pace being much quicker due to his greater height, and placed his hand on her opposite shoulder, the closest he could get to putting his arm around the short woman. Neo paid it no mind, and waited until they had exited the building before she looked up towards him, a questioning look on her face.

“Over on Aspen, an easily bribed motel owner has graciously been allowing me to stay.”

She nodded in response, walking alongside him in comfortable silence until they had reached the room, Roman unlocking and holding the door for her as they entered. The first thing in the room she noticed was her parasol, leaning up against the far wall; Cinder had ordered it stay behind, concerned it would be too recognizable among the citizens of Vale. Neo walked over to pick it up, happy to have it back in her hands once more, if only for a short period of time, and it would accompany her to the meeting, as well as to whatever scheme the fiery woman had been plotting. Maybe she should pay some attention when Cinder spoke, although the discussion in the warehouse was only the bare bones of the plan.

In the short time it took her to grab her weapon, Roman had already shed his jacket along with most of his other clothes, leaving him only with his undershirt and slacks, and sat himself on the single bed in the room with the TV on. At least he was kind enough to leave her some room, although the bed wasn’t very large to begin with. Neo took off her boots, jacket, and gloves, and slid into the bed to sit next to him, relaxing for the first time in quite a while.

They sat in silence for a while, Neo wasn’t quite sure for how long, before she glanced up towards him. His eyes weren’t even focused on the TV show playing, and it looked like he hadn’t had proper sleep in weeks. It wasn’t surprising, considering the string of robberies he was employed to pull off.

She almost hated to break his trance. Almost.

When clearing her throat failed to get his attention, she used her elbow to give him a quick jab in the side.

“Augh, again? What did I do this time?”

His response coupled with the fact that she had gotten a jump out of him caused her to smirk. Her reply was a questioning look, pointing to Cinder’s contact information on her scroll.

“The meeting tomorrow night is just to recruit more mutts into the White Fang, and show off some of the technology I managed to steal from Atlas.” He smiled, emphasizing the theft, “they’re pretty impressive, really, going to be a lot of fun.”

Neo was only somewhat interested in the idea, much preferring to do things hands on.

“After that we begin loading explosives into a train underneath Mountain Glenn. That would be phase two of Cinder’s big plan, and as long as nothing tries to get in my way again, it should go off without a hitch.”

Again? Her head tilted a bit, prompting him to explain.

“Damn kids trying to be heroes,” he muttered. It didn’t seem like he was going to really explain anything today.

She watched his face as his eyes closed, his body relaxed, and his breathing began to slow. Sleep sounded like a great idea, and although the bed was not near as comfortable as the one she had slept in back in Haven, the company was much better, and she leaned up against him to doze off herself.


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I ran out of steam near the end on this one, but I really just wanted it to be done and over with.

Roman only slept a few hours before waking. He had become accustomed to only getting small increments of sleep as opposed to a full eight hours, after all. His companion, however, had been kept on a normal schedule due to attending an academy for hunters and recieved a full nights sleep every night. So why, then, had she found herself in a deep sleep in the middle of the damn afternoon?

His frustration faded quickly when he took a look at the diminutive woman sleeping next to him. She was curled up on her side facing him as close as she could get, strands of bi-colored hair lay messily over her face, lips parted slightly, looking completely peaceful. If Roman hadn't known better he'd say she looked angelic in this state - it was hard to believe the woman laying next to him was one of the most dangerous fighters he had ever met. 

As much as he enjoyed sitting in silence, his bladder had other plans for him, and he was suddenly aware of exactly why he had woken up. Fortunately Neo had decided to not actually cling onto him, making his exit from the small bed that much easier, silently making his way to the bathroom.

Sliding back into the bed was easy, but now that he was up, he had no desire to sleep again, instead opting to simply look at the still sleeping Neo; it was amazing how well she slept so long as Roman was around. On the nights she would fall asleep before he had returned to whatever safe house they were staying in he always woke her, no matter how silently he had attempted to enter - sometimes with a blade to his throat. But on nights they had been together? Very little would wake her up, so long as she wasn't having nightmares.

Gingerly he brushed aside the hair that was layered over her face, smirking a bit as she curled a bit tigher in response - it seemed her sleep wasn't quite as deep as it could be. Her mouth closed as she began to sit up, opening her eyes, flashing between white, brown, and pink before settling on their standard color theme, glancing around the room.

"Sleep well, ice cream?"

She nodded slowly, still bringing herself into the real world, eliciting a smug look from Roman. Her response was a frown that only caused his grin to widen, he always took pride in being able to ruffle her feathers, grateful knowing she would never actually harm him. Probably.

"I don't believe for a moment that your workload in Haven is enough to keep you from getting proper sleep."

She rolled her eyes in response. He knew full well why she decided to take a nap with him, but it was just so much fun to tease her, and it was a damn shame she was nearly impossible to fluster - he would pay some pretty good Lien to see her blush.

He reached for his scroll, checking on the time and to confirm that Cinder had not attempted to contact him. It was barely 5 pm and his messages remained empty, implying that Cinder really was going to let him have the night off. It was about damn time, really, there was hardly any dust left in Vale. He turned his scroll off entirely before setting it back down, then relaxed back in an upright seated position on the bed. Next to him, Neo had crossed her legs and raised her arms above her head in a stretch, causing Roman to ogle her for a minute; stretching this way had caused her to push her chest out a bit, not to mention her top was riding up, showing a fair bit of midriff. Dust, it was a sight for sore eyes. Sure, Cinder was nice to look at, but nothing really compared to being able to leer over Neo's frame.

She must have known he was looking, because mid-stretch Neo opened a single pink eye to glance over to him, grinning; he simply raised an eyebrow in response as she lowered her arms back to her sides. It's not like he had never seen her naked before, it had just been a long time, and he was a man with desires. 

"What do you even do at Haven, Sundae?"

Neo rolled her eyes, likely in response to the pet name he decided to slip in, and turned her body to sit facing him, beginning to sign.

/Cinder wants us to actually try in classes, just to keep up the charade./ Roman smirked a bit, her sign for 'Cinder' was actually the sign for 'Bitch,' /They're boring. She doesn't even want us to fight seriously in case we maim someone on accident. I don't see why that's so horrible, they're all going to die anyway. I almost broke a kid's arm, though./

Roman couldn't help but laugh, Neo seemed to really be struggling with this assignment. He would, too, he couldn't imagine having to sit in on classes, doing assignments, playing friendly to the future 'saviors of Remnant.' Well, he could, really, he had tried it once before dropping out, but that was another story for another time.

/It was in a sparring match. Even holding back, he was easy to take out./

He could easily picture this, grin growing wider as he imagined his companion having to hold herself back in a fight - even the thought of Neo working on schoolwork was hilarious to him. 

"So, Cinder, Mercury, Emerald, and Neo. That's a pretty interesting team name you have there."

Neo's eyes - both now pink - rolled at that comment, /C-M-S-N. Crimson. Emerald's last name starts with an S. I'm also known as Natt and not Neo./

"Natt?" She nodded to confirm, "well, Neo isn't a common name, and I guess it wouldn't be hard for the cops to figure it out. I don't know what her plan is, but she doesn't take any chances. Do you even know what she's planning with all this?"

Neo shook her head, /all I know is we'll be in the Vytal Festival tournament, and something about rigging the matchups, she doesn't tell us anything except the bare minimum. She probably keeps me out of the loop because she knows I'll tell you./

Roman scoffed. It really seemed like the two of them were the smallest pieces of the greater plan, and he wondered for a moment: was Neo part of the plan because Cinder needed him, or was he only brought along for the ride because of Neo? His facial features hardened when he thought of it, he didn't like the thought of being disposable or the thought that he didn't have control over his own life. Neither of them did - they were just Cinder's pawns. Players in some game larger than they could imagine.

He was deep enough in thought that he didn't notice that his partner had slid up next to him, leaning her small frame onto his. In fact, he continued to not notice it until she had placed her hand on his thigh. That got his attention, causing his body to relax as he grinned in response, lifting his arm to drape around her shoulders. It was nice to have her around again, even if it would only be for a few days.


End file.
